Table of Contents1. Overview
2. Performance Indices
3. Comparison by Performance Indices
……. 3-1. Elasticity Indices
……. 3-2. Vibration Indices
4. Field Test
5. Summary

[Update 2023.10.2] The data of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ has been replaced by recent data (2023 version) measured from new samples whose average thickness is around 5.9mm. And, discontinued ‘SK7’ in the review has been replaces by currently available ‘SK7 Classic’.

Butterfly ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is the new variation of ‘Viscaria’ which is the top seller of outer-fiber blades. Its artificial material is new ‘Super Arylate Carbon’ which is a kind of ALC. According to Butterfly, new ‘Super Arylate Carbon (= Super ALC)’ provides higher elasticity while keeping the softness of existing ALC. And, also according to Butterfly, the vibration characteristics of new ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is not much different from that of ‘Viscaria’, but ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is more power that is required by both of top players and the amateur player of middle ~ high level.

In this article, TTGearLab will analyze ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ through Performance Indices and compare it with some existing blades including current version of ‘Viscaria’. Further, TTGearLab will also check the actual characteristics of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ by field testing at table tennis court.

1.  Overview

Fig.01 Butterfly ‘Viscaria Super ALC’

Butterfly ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ which was introduced on 1st March 2022 is the blade based on ‘Viscaria’ but whose artificial material is new ‘Super Arylate Carbon’ which is different Arylate Carbon of ‘Viscaria’. The appearance of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is also based on that of ‘Viscaria, but it is more refined as Butterfly’s latest design concept has been applied.

Fig.02 The construction of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’

The construction of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is based on that of ‘Viscaria’, but overall thickness is around 5.9mm which is a bit thicker than 5.8mm of current ‘Viscaria’. (Note : The thickness of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is written as 5.7mm on Butterfly home page and catalog. However, the result of actual measurement is around 5.9mm.) The wood layers are identical to those of ‘Viscaria’. The top layer is Koto, the middle layer under Super ALC is Ayous and the center layer is Kiri.

The size of head is 157mm (length) x 150mm (width) which is the regular head size of Butterfly. The average weight of measured pcs. is 92.7g. (Note : The average weight of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ written on Butterfly home page is 90g.)

Fig.03 FL (flared) handle of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’

The graphic design of handle is based on that of current ‘Viscaria’ but is distinguished by darker coloring. The shape of handle is basically identical to that of current ‘Viscaria’. Both of FL handle and ST handle are available. The FL handle appeared in above picture is a semi-wide FL handle which is also applied to ‘Zhang Jike’ series and ‘Fan Zhendong’ series, and is different from the standard FL handle of Butterfly which is applied to most of Butterfly blades including ‘Timo Boll’ series and ‘InnerForce Layer’ series. The width of FL handle is around 25mm ~ 28mm (at the bulge) ~ 26.5mm (at the narrowest section) ~ 34.0mm (at handle end) from top to bottom. The thickness of FL handle is around 22.9mm at thumb and around 25.0mm at handle end. The ST handle is the standard ST handle of Butterfly which is applied to most of Butterfly blades. The width and the thickness of ST handle is around 28mm and around 23mm respectively.

Differently from normal transparent lens of ‘Viscaria’, small Aluminum nameplate is applied at the foreside of handle. The shape of this small Aluminum plate is identical to that of ‘Harimoto Tomokazu’ series.

Fig.04 Backside of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’

There isn’t printing on the backside of blade head. But, there is small hologram lens at the backside of handle. This small lens started to be applied to Butterfly blades in 2014, and has become one of the identity of Butterfly blades.

Fig.05 Aluminum logo plate at the end of handle

Like all the other current Butterfly blades there is a squared logo plate at the end of handle. The new logo without the text ‘Butterfly’ has been applied from 2014.

Then, let’s check the characteristics of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ by Performance Indices and compare with some existing blades. The data of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ has already been analyzed as the data of ‘Fan Zhendong Super ALC’. However, in this article it will be observed from different viewpoint – the difference between new ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ and existing ‘Viscaria’.

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2.  Performance Indices

Performance Indices are measured objective values to represent the characteristics of table tennis gears. Concerning the detail of four performance indices, please refer to following articles in ‘About TTGearLab’ section:

The performance indices of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ are as follows:

Butterfly Viscaria Super ALC (average weight = 92.7g)

                    Ep = 2.22

                    Ec = 2.15 (Ec/Ep = 0.97)

                    Vp = 1.35

                    Vl = 1.24 (Vl/Vp = 0.91)

Note : Because there isn’t any difference between ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ and ‘Fan Zhendong Super ALC’ except for the graphic design, TTGearLab is dealing with those two as one product. Both of those two have been used for the measurement and calculation of Performance Indices.

Fig.06 Butterfly ‘Viscaria Super ALC’

The Ep of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is 2.22, and it is quite high value. ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is a highly elastic blade, and in fact that value is even higher than the Ep of current ‘Viscaria’ (= 2.02) that will also be dealt with in next chapter. As Butterfly is explaining, ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is more elastic than ‘Viscaria’.

Ec is also high, but is lower than Ep. And, Ec/Ep is lower than 1.00, but not too low. Because Ec/Ep ( = 0.97) is close to 1.0, the behavior of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ concerned with elasticity is expected to be almost linear. When the player hits the ball very strongly, ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ holds the ball, but just a bit.

The Vp of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is 1.35. It is quite high value, but not extremely high. So, the basic feeling of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is moderately stiff.

Vl is 1.24, and it is lower than Vp. So Vl/Vp (= 0.91) is lower than 1.0. It means that the feeling transferred to index finger is more comfortable than the primary feeling transferred to palm.

Fig.07 Butterfly ‘Viscaria Super ALC’

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3.  Comparison by Performance Indices

Then we can compare ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ with some other blades in the market. The main theme of the comparison is to understand the criteria for choosing between ‘Viscaria’ and ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. And additionally, some other blades will be compared with ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. Only Butterfly blades (except for reference blade) are used for the comparison in this article.

Following is the list of the blades to be compared :

Fiber blades

  • Butterfly ‘Viscaria’ (avg. weight = 87.1g) : The representative of outer ALC blades with Koto top layer. Current version.
  • Butterfly ‘Fan Zhend Dong ZLC’ (avg. weight = 85.1g) : Outer ZLC blade with Koto top layer.
  • Butterfly ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ (avg. weight = 88.og) : High-speed inner-ALC blade.
  • Butterfly ‘Schlager Light’ (avg. weight = 84.3g) : Carbon blade with 3+2 ply construction. Top layer is Hinoki.
  • Butterfly ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ (avg. weight = 91.2g) : Standard Inner-ALC blades with Limba top layer. Recent version whose thickness is around 5.9mm.

All Wood blades

  • Butterfly ‘SK7’ (avg. weight = 95.2g) : Thick and heavy 7-ply wood blade with classic construction.
  • Butterfly ‘Korbel’ (avg. weight = 88.7g) : The standard of 5-ply wood offensive blades with Limba top layer.

3-1. Elasticity Indices

Fig.08 Comparison by Elasticity Indices

Fig.08 shows the comparison graph of Elasticity Indices.

Ep (Primary Elasticity Index) is directly concerned with the rebound speed of blade. Ec (Central Elasticity Index) is concerned with additional ‘kick’ when player hits ball very strongly.

At first, we can compare ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ with ‘Viscaria’. Both of the Ep and the Ec of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is noticeably higher than those of ‘Viscaria’. It coincides with the description by Butterfly that ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is more elastic than ‘Viscaria’. And, the relationship between the Ec and the Ep of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ looks similar to that of ‘Viscaria’. It means that ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ can be considered as the upgrade from ‘Viscaria’ if we just observe the characteristics concerned with elasticity.

Then we can compare ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ with ‘Fiber blades’ group that includes four fiber blades of various constructions. ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is more elastic than all four models in this group. Only the Ec of ‘Schlager Light’ is similar to the Ec of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. The Ep’s of ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’, ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ and ‘Schlager Light’ are one step lower than that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. And, The Ec’s of two inner fiber blades – ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ – are significantly lower than that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’.

Next is the comparison with ‘All wood blades’ group. ‘SK7’ which is heavy 7-ply wood blade with classic construction is as elastic as ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ when we observe the Ep’s. But, the Ec of ‘SK7’ is one step lower than that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. If the player needs more support of the center of blade, ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ can be the upgrade from classic heavy 7-ply wood blades such as ‘SK7’. ‘Korbel’ which is the representative of 5-ply wood offensive blade is much less elastic than ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. Because the difference of elasticity is too big, it isn’t expectable that ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ can be the direct upgrade from ‘Korbel’ when the player who has used ‘Korbel’ is searching for more powerful blade.

Examining Ec/Ep is an easier way to understand the characteristics of blade concerned with elasticity. Fig.09 shows the relationship between Ec/Ep and Ep.

Fig.09 Ec/Ep vs. Ep

Ec/Ep expresses the ‘tendency’ of the elasticity of blade. By examining Ec/Ep and Ep at the same time, we can easily understand the behavior of blades.

‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is at the right end of ‘Mild Hold’ range (0.9 < Ec/Ep < 1.0). It means that ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ holds ball when the player hits the ball very strongly, but not that deeply. There may be many players who feel that ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ doesn’t especially hold or kick the ball when they hits the ball very strongly. I.e. ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is almost linear.

On the graph, there are two blades whose Ec/Ep’s are similar to that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ while their Ep’s are lower by around 0.2 – ‘Viscaria’ and ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’. Although there are of course the differences between those two, they look very similar to each other if compared to ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. If we just consider the behavior of blades concerned with elasticity, ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ will be the solution if the players who have used those two so far but want to replace current blade with more elastic one.

The Ep’s of those two – ‘Viscaria’ and ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’ – are around 2.0. Above those two ‘Schlager Light’ is located, and below those two ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is located. So in this comparison, four blades are placed near the vertical line Ep = 2.0. We may be able to consider ‘around 2.0’ as the standard Ep of typical fast blades. And, there are two options if the player want the blade with ‘almost linear’ characteristics of elasticity – standard outer ALC with Koto top layer (for example ‘Viscaria’) and standard outer ZLC blade with Koto top layer (for example ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’). And, if the player wants the blade that holds the ball more deeply, ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ which is faster version of inner-ALC blade can be the solution. And, if the player wants the blade that kicks the ball more strongly, the blade like ‘Schlager Light’ can be the solution. Further, if the player wants faster blade while keeping Ec/Ep almost linear, ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ will be the proper solution.

The Ep of ‘SK7’ which is the thick and heavy 7-ply wood blade is in between ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ and the four blades of previous paragraph. And the Ec of ‘SK7’ is one step lower than that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’, ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’ and ‘Viscaria’. Therefore, if a player who is using ‘SK7’ but needs higher primary elasticity and more kick, ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ can be a good solution. Also, if the player who is using ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’ or current version of ‘Viscaria’ but needs a bit higher elasticity and deeper hold, ‘SK7’ may be a good solution if the thickness isn’t a problem for that player. (But, please note that the difference by piece is relatively bigger than that of fiber blades because ‘SK7’ is an all-wood blade. The values shown in this article are average values, but there are many pcs. of ‘SK7’ whose Ep is around 2.1 or higher than 2.2.)

If the player has used ‘Korbel’ but wants to increase elasticity while keeping ‘Deep Hold’ characteristics, the direct solution will be ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’. Both of ‘Korbel’ and ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ are placed at bottom of the comparison graph. If the player needs the blades which provides a bit more kick than ‘Korbel’ but not much faster, ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ will be the solution. But, on the graph, ‘Viscaris Super ALC’ is too far from ‘Korbel’. Therefore, TTGearLab doesn’t recommend ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ as the direct upgrade from ‘Korbel’. Selecting ‘Viscaria’ instead of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ will be the safer way of replacement.

Then next, let’s compare Vibration Indices.

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3-2. Vibration Indices

Fig.10 Comparison by Vibration Indices

Fig.10 shows the comparison graph of Vibration Indices. Vibration Indices are concerned with feeling. Vp indicates primary feeling which is transferred to player’s palm. And, Vl is the feeling at the edge of the wing – the lower side of blade head. It is felt by player’s index finger or middle finger.

At first, we can compare ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ with ‘Viscaria’. The Vp of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is a bit higher than that of ‘Viscaria’. On the contrary, the Vl of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is noticeably smaller than that of ‘Viscaria’. It means that the feeling of lateral direction of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is softer than that of ‘Viscaria’. That is very important character of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. Although it is faster than ‘Viscaria’, there will be many players who feel that ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is softer than ‘Viscaria’.

Then we can compare ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ with ‘Fiber blades’ group that includes four fiber blades of various constructions. First, The Vp of ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’ is same as that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. But, the Vl of ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’ is much higher than that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. Second, the Vl of ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ is also higher than that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’, while its Vp is lower that that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ as we can expect. Third, both of Vp and Vl of ‘Schlager Light’ are higher than those of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. Hinoki-Carbon blades such as ‘Schlager Light’ are very hard in general. And, the result coincides with our expectation. Finally, the Vp of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is significantly lower than that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. But, astonishingly the Vl of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is similar to that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. Probably there will be many players who feel that ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is as soft as ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. Those players are sensitive to the feeling that is transferred to index finger through the wing at the right and the left side of handle.

Next is the comparison with ‘All wood blades’ group. Astonishingly the Vp of ‘SK7’ is just a bit lower than those of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ and the Vl of ‘SK7’ is just a bit lower than that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. It tells us that the overall feeling of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is not much different from that of ‘SK7’ which is thick and heavy classic 7-ply wood blade. And, the Vp of ‘Korbel’ which is the representative of 5-ply wood offensive blades is lower than that of ‘Viscaris Super ALC’, as we can expect. However, the Vl of ‘Korbel’ is same as that of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’, and is just a bit lower than that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. So if we just observe Vl, the feeling of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is similar to that of ‘Korbel’ or ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.  

Examining Vl/Vp is an easier way for the comparison of the tendency of feeling. Fig.11 shows the relationship between Vl/Vp and Vp for easier comparison.

Fig.11 Vl/Vp vs. Vp

On the graph, there are five blades in upper parts of the graph – ‘Relatively sharper at finger’ range, and three blades in lower parts of the graph – ‘Relatively more comfortable at finger’ range.

‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is located at the lower part of the graph. The other blades in the lower part are ‘Schlager Light’ which is a carbon blade of 3+2 construction with hinoki top layer and ‘SK7’ which is a heavy 7-ply wood blade with thick classic construction. None of any other 5+2 ply outer fiber blade or inner-fiber blade in this comparison is located at the lower part. That distinguishes ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ from many other fiber blades. The Vl/Vp of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is similar to those of ‘SK7’ and ‘Schlager Light’. Therefore, we can expect that ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is the softer alternative of ‘Schlager Light’ or the harder alternative of ‘SK7’. It is expected that the change will be smoothly done thanks to similar values of Vl/Vp.

Two other outer-fiber blades – ‘Viscaria’ and ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’ are located at the upper part of the graph. Especially ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’ is right above ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. Although the primary feeling of those two blades is not much different from that of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’, there will be many players who will feel that those two are sharper than ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. (Further, ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’ becomes even stiffer if the player hits the ball very strongly although that characteristics isn’t shown in Performance Indices.) Some players will like the comfortable feeling of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ but the others will prefer the feeling of ‘Viscaria’ or ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’.

Two inner-fiber blades – ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ – are placed on the upper left of ‘Viscaria’ & ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’. We can observe that inner-fiber blades are softer but provides relatively sharper feeling than outer-fiber blades. And, ‘Korbel’ which is typical 5-ply wood offensive blade is further to the upper left of inner-fibrer blades. Because ‘Korbel’ is too far from ‘Viscaria Super ALC’, it is expected that it will take quite long time to adapt to ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ if a player change the blade from ‘Korbel’ to ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. The proper step may be replacing ‘Korbel’ with ‘Ovtcharov InnerForce ALC’ at the beginning and then trying ‘Viscaria’. ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ can be the solution in case the player wants more speed and more comfortable feeling than ‘Viscaria’.

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4.  Field Test

‘Viscaria Super ALC’ has been briefly tested at table tennis court. The non-sticky rubbers used for the testing are ‘Glazer’, ‘Tenergy 05’, ‘Vega Aisa’ and so on. And, the sticky rubbers used for the testing are ‘Glazer 09c’, ‘Dignics 09c’ ‘Rasanter C48’ and so on. None of the combinations was intensively tested. But, it will be sufficient to understand the basic characteristics of the blade.

The first impression of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ during the light warm-up rally is that its feeling is soft and comfortable. Of course the soft feeling has been expected from the result of measurement. But, the actual ball touch is even softer than expected. However, that softness is different from the feeling that the blade body deflects flexibly as is felt from 5-ply wood blade such as ‘Korbel’. Ball touch is soft, but the blade body itself doesn’t deflect much but keeps the shape. Differently speaking the feeling is similar to what is felt from thick 7-ply wood blade of classic construction. We have observed that the Ec/Ep and the Vl/Vp of ‘SK7’ show the same tendency as those of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’, and that is actually felt during field testing. Further, it was expected that the feeling of surface is hard due the top layer is Koto which is relatively harder than Limba. However, the feeling of surface is much softer than expected.

Although the ball touch is soft, ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ can easily make very fast ball. That kind of characteristics is shared with classic heavy 7-ply wood blades. Those blades have been knows for very good harmony with sticky rubbers or pimples out rubbers. It is expected that ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ will also make good harmony with sticky rubbers or pimples out rubbers. Actually the harmony of ‘Viacaria Super ALC’ and sticky rubbers is very satisfactory. The high elastic of the blade covers the speed reduction due to stickiness. And, the adjustment of the trajectory of ball can be easily done by the adjustment of hitting method.

Fig.12 Butterfly ‘Viscaria Super ALC’

When topspin is performed, ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ gives the feeling that the surface of the blade firmly grips the ball. That is also the characteristics of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ those distinguishes ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ from the other outer-fiber blades. Therefore the racket angle for topspin can be freely adjusted from thin angle to thick angle. The ball draws high and stable trajectory if players concentrate on dragging ball by thin racket angle. And, if the players perform the topspin as they hit the ball by thick racket angle, the ball draws long and linear trajectory. In most cases the topspin by ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ draws more linear trajectory than that by ‘Viscaria’. As a result, the topspin from ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is more powerful but less stable than the topspin from ‘Viscaria’. It is apparent when the player plays at close-to-table area. But, the topspin from mid-distance area doesn’t give any impression that the it is especially unstable.

Regarding the combination with rubbers, it is easier to perform various types of topspin when using sticky rubbers such as ‘Glazer 09c’ or ‘Dignics 09c’ than when using non-sticky rubbers such as ‘Tenergy 05’ or ‘Vega Asia’. Therefore, the combination with sticky rubbers such as ‘Glazer 09c’ is strongly recommended if the player want to use various kinds of topspin. Then the speed of ball will be reduced compared with the case of the combination with non-sticky rubbers. However, still the speed of ball will not be insufficient thanks to the high elasticity of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’.

What is noteworthy is that the preemptive attack by topspin against backspin is very easy. There isn’t need for upper swing to pull the ball up. The angle of the swing can be much lower, and as the result the attack by topspin becomes more powerful. In the preemptive topspin against backspin, ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ provides even higher stability than ‘Viscaria’ or ‘SK7’, although the relatively linear trajectory of ball from ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ doesn’t look that stable. Of course, the prerequisite is to put rotation to the ball. If the ball isn’t rotating, the ball will just go over the end line of the opponent’s court.

Finishing by smash can be frequently used because the smash of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is powerful and at the same time comfortable. The smash from ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is more destructive than that from ‘Viscaria’. But, due to the softer ball touch of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’, it is difficult for the player to feel the difference between the smash from ‘Viscaria’ and that from ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. Some player will even feel that ‘Viscaria’ can make more destructive smash.

Block against opponent’s topspin is comfortable and stable, like the block by classic heavy 7-ply wood blade. Also, the player can perform the block more actively without difficulty. If the player wants to perform various kinds of block, the combination with sticky rubber is recommended.

On-table-technics (puch, stop and flick) was expected to be somewhat difficult because the elasticity of blade is high. However, contrary to expectations, the on-table-technics is very easy. Probably that is thanks to the soft ball touch and the feeling that the ball sticks to the surface of blade. The trajectory of stop can be easily controlled short and low. The trajectory of push is low and deep. Push may require adjustment at the beginning of using ‘Viscaria Super ALC’, but it doesn’t take much time. And, the controllability of flick is impressive. It is very easy to control the speed and the trajectory of ball when performing flick. Because on-table-technics are so easy, the player will be able to easily take the initiative of the rally.

‘Viscaria Super ALC’ seems to be combined with various kinds of rubbers without much problem. None of the rubbers used in this testing causes disharmony problem. The most balanced combination is that with medium sponge (= around 48 degree in German standard) rubbers that is focused on spin, such as ‘Tenergy 05’. And, the combination with faster but softer one such as ‘Vega Asia’ is also very easy to use. Further, the rubbers with hard sponges whose density is over 50 degree makes good harmony with ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ thanks to the soft feeling of the blade. And, as is already described above, the combination with sticky tension rubbers is strongly recommended. The speed reduction by the stickiness is compensated by the high elasticity of blade, and the hard feeling due to high density of sponge and thick base of top sheet is compensated by the soft touch of blade. The sticky tension rubber can be combined not only on the forehand side but also on the backhand side. Many backhand technics such as backhand topspin or counter-topspin, backhand flick, backhand stop and backhand block can be performed very effectively with sticky tension rubbers on the backhand side of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’.

Below is the testers’ opinions on the ‘Viscaria Super ALC’. Testers are distinguished by the color of indicator. (Red and green.) Please note that the result may differ by testers because the field testing isn’t objective but subjective. The result of field testing is influenced by testers’ personal preferences and the condition of testing.

Fig.13 Evaluation by subjective testing

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5.  Summary

Butterfly ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is the blade which increases the elasticity of ‘Viscaria’ by replacing the artificial material with new ‘Super Arylate Carbon’ whose weaving method is different from existing Arylate Carbon for Butterfly blades. ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ provides higher elasticity and a bit more kick than ‘Viscaria’. But, its primary feeling is just a bit harder than that of ‘Viscaria’, and the feeling transferred to index finger is even softer than ‘Viscaria’. It is expected that many players feel that ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is softer than ‘Viscaria’ although it is faster. The advantage of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is that it doesn’t give uncomfortably stiff feeling although it can easily make faster ball.

The speed of ball when performing topspin is faster but the trajectory tends to be more linear when compared with ‘Viscaria’. Although the player may feel that the topspin from ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ is very stable (because of the comfortable feeling), the actual stability of topspin is not as good as that from ‘Viscaria’. So, we can think that the price of increased power is the decrease in stability. In table tennis ‘super’ doesn’t always mean ‘better’. ‘Viscaria Super ALC’ isn’t the ‘better’ version of ‘Viscaria’ but the ‘different’ version of ‘Viscaria’. If the player lays emphasis on total balance, ‘Viscaria’ will be better choice. However, if higher power than ‘Viscaria’ is required for dominating rally, it will be good for the player to seriously consider ‘Viscaria Super ALC.

Fig.014 Butterfly ‘Viscaria Super ALC’

PROS :

  • Comfortable feeling and the ability of making very fast ball easily.
  • Good harmony with various kinds of rubbers including sticky tension rubbers.

CONS :

  • The stability isn’t as good as ‘Viscaria’ because the trajectory of topspin tends to be more linear.

VERDICT :

  • The variation of ‘Viscaria’ that achieves higher speed by sacrificing the balance a bit.

RECOMMENDATION :

  • The skilled players who want to dominate the topspin rally by power and speed.

Fig.15 The backside lens of ‘Viscaria Super ALC’

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